A top editor at The Daily Beast is calling for a boycott of Donald Trump’s businesses and said his patrons are supporting “racism and neo-fascism.”
“It’s time for a boycott of Trump’s businesses – and a public calling out of those who choose to work with him,” Noah Shachtman, the Beast’s executive editor, tweeted Sunday.
Shachtman’s tweets came days after Trump suggested that, if elected, he would use a database to track Muslims in the United States in order to prevent terrorism.
“Let’s get real: if you’re renting in a Trump building or playing a round of golf at a Trump resort, you are supporting racism & neo-fascism,” he wrote. “Six months ago, you could say you were doing business w Trump without endorsing his views. 8,000 racist moments later, that’s no longer feasible.”
Several conservatives responded to Shachtman’s tweets with charges of liberal bias. Glenn Beck’s “The Blaze” wrote an item that seemed to suggest Shachtman had exposed his partisan worldview.
But on Monday, Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon stood behind Shachtman.
“First, all Beasts are entitled to their own opinion on social media,” Avlon wrote on Monday. “Second, a core part of our mission is to stand up to bullies, bigots and hypocrites.”
“Third, we sure as hell aren’t going to get lectured on journalistic ethics by a site run by a professional polarizer like Glenn Beck.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Daily Beast isn’t the only online news site to take an unorthodox approach covering Trump. The Huffington Post has said it would confine its coverage of Trump to its entertainment page. On Monday, the HuffPo’s entertainment page included a piece on Trump saying he would renew the possibility that might run as an independent candidate.